Posts Tagged ‘Gerard Butler’
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Jul31
In early spring, a movie was unleashed upon the American public that unexpectedly spawned a dozen quotable catchphrases and launched a thousand internet parodies. It went on to make over $210 million at the box office, shocking industry analysts with it’s shocking violence, beautifully choreographed fight sequences and wide audience appeal.
That movie was 300 and I was on the sidelines for the whole thing.
Just as the hype surrounding the film was beginning to build, we brought our first child Henry into the world. It didn’t really fit within my priorities at the time to saunter off and wallow in a swords and sandals splatter fest while Cami was home changing diapers.
But I was able to get my hands on an advance copy of the film – out on DVD today – and this is my review.
By now you’re probably familiar with the battle of Thermopylae between 300 Spartans and the invading Persian army. The film bases it’s story around these events, but never pretends for a minute that its historically accurate. Instead, it draws an immediate line between itself and Frank Miller’s graphic novel of the same name.
Several key frames from the graphic novel are recreated in loving, gory detail here. I used to think that a previous Frank Miller creation – Sin City – was the most faithful comic book to movie translation. It’s evident that directory Zach Snyder has studied the approach to Sin City and refined it in 300.
The action on screen is constantly engaging and Snyder makes sure to slow things down just enough for you to feel each slice of the blade as it drags across human flesh. Knives bury themselves deep in eye sockets and heads are lopped from torsos with regularity – they float in the air like a bride’s bouquet.
Despite the film’s love affair with gore and it’s unwillingness to shy away from any of it, I couldn’t help but feel somewhat detached from the proceedings. I don’t know if the film has possibly lost some of it’s impact being wedged onto the small screen, but what transpires feels very much like a video game. Blood splatters everywhere and seems to almost evaporate. I was surprised when slain Persians simply didn’t blink a few times in rapid succession before disappearing from the battlefield to make way for more Spartan slaughter. But it’s probably not best to worry about it too long.There is more carnage to be had!
For me, the success of the film rests squarely on the broad shoulders of it’s star Gerard Butler as King Leonidas. Much more than a pointy beard, some eyeliner and rippling pectorals, Butler attacks his dialogue with the corners of his mouth pulled down to the base of his neck in vein-popping earnestness. He carries himself confidently and projects strength at all times. Watching him, you’re convinced that this is a man that could rally soldiers to battle and prepare them for death and glory as if there were no greater reward. He’s a treat to watch because he takes all of it as seriously as a heart attack. In less literal hands, Leonidas could have come off as pompous or unreasonable.
Beyond Butler’s scene chewing, the narrative is delivered largely in voice over. The third person account lends a sort of historical reverence to the proceedings, but at the same time feels pat and lazy storytelling. Some political maneuvering is thrown into the background of the plot, but it does little to anchor itself to the action at the battle of Thermopylae. Ultimately, it’s the visuals that sell the movie. Shot almost entirely against a blue screen in Montreal in 60 days, one marvels at how it was all assembled to recreate the epic battle.
Not much is explained in terms of extras available on the full screen version of the DVD that I was provided with. Just a simple director’s commentary and that’s all. The widescreen edition doesn’t fare much better for extras, but the two-disc special edition contains more than 90 minutes of addition footage that delves into the “How’d they do that?” for a richer at home experience.
FX junkies looking for an unapologetic action film will find much to love in 300. Anyone looking for greater depth will probably have more luck watching The History Channel.
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Something I enjoy writing for the comic is the dynamic between Tom and Cami. As a married couple, they can do and say a lot more – I think – than characters who simply orbit each other. There’s none of that “will-they-or-won’t-they” drama. No lingering threat to the relationship. I realize that limits the potential for drama in the strip. But drama has never really been what Theater Hopper is about.
My hats off to people who can write that kind of stuff. It’s a tightrope walk, to be sure. I’ve just never had the patience for it. To have two characters who are married takes a lot of the pressure off. You can just write them as people.
I had a hard time coming up with the joke for today’s comic. There aren’t a lot of movies out right now that are impressing me. I could have done a comic about The Ruins, but it looks like standard horror boilerplate. Nothing inspired me. Then there’s Martin Scorses’s documentary of The Rolling Stones called Shine A Light, but what route can you go there except the tired “they’re really old!” joke.
I was trying to put something together for Nim’s Island, which is a movie I couldn’t care less about since it looks like a by-the-numbers kids adventure movie. That is, until I saw Gerard Butler was in it.
Of course, being both a nerd and a slave to popular internet meme’s, my mind immediately went to 300 and how I could incorporate it’s style or catchphrases into the strip.
I went around and around trying to think of something satisfying, but became annoyed with myself for jumping on a bandwagon about 14 months too late. Then I remembered that there are lot more unfunny parodies of 300 than funny ones. And then I became sad…
So I went another direction with it! It feels good to stick it to people who don’t know when to let a trend die.
Like myself.
Real quick – has anyone noticed that they’re pronouncing Garard Butler’s name weird in the commercials for Nim’s Island. They make it sound like “Jared.” It’s weird.
Or maybe that’s the way we’re SUPPOSED to be saying it and we’ve been ignorantly insulting him the whole time?
Oh, well. Not much else from my end of the universe. Thanks for swinging by the site! See you here Monday!
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I might be squeezing in on Penny Arcade’s territory with this comic a little bit. But if we’re talking about movies, then I say it’s fair game!
I don’t do a lot of online gaming. If I do, it’s on titles where there is very little human interaction. I haven’t bothered to invest in a headset because I’ve seen too many YouTube videos of players screwing around during Halo death matches, humping the corpses of someone they tagged with a headshot from around a blind corner. I’m not interested in trash talking. I just want to play a round of Tetris with some anonymous person from Columbus, Ohio – is that too much to ask?
Gamer comes out this weekend and it looks like more explosive trash fun from Lionsgate. We talked about the movie a little bit during the end of The Triple Feature on Monday. Joe is excited for it because it’s directed by Mark Neveldine – the guy who brought us Crank and Crank: High Voltage.
I was unaware of this fact until Monday and it has increased my interest in the movie substantially. As you might remember, I saw Crank: High Voltage earlier in the year and it left quite an impression. By comparison, Gamer is almost cerebral. So it will be interesting to see what Neveldine can do with a script when the movie isn’t a complete over-exaggeration.
My only concern is that people made many comments to the effect that Crank: High Voltage was like a live-action video game (myself included) – all the way down to cheesy 8-bit graphics and a hero who “respawned” when he ran out of energy. Gamer doesn’t look to be stepping too far outside of the same paradigm in terms of the “movies as video games” conceit.
What has been your impression of the movie? Do you think it’s going to do anything original with the concept? Is anyone expecting any insightful social commentary about our society’s increasing bloodlust and disconnection from each other as individuals, or do you think this will be just another festival of explosions and violence from the studio that brought us Punisher: War Zone?
Are you planning on seeing Gamer this weekend? Leave your comments below!
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I had a difficult time writing today’s comic because the joke is kind of crass and I kept trying to censor myself as I was constructing it. That’s a lose-lose situation every time. So I decided to just kind of go for it.
I prefer to think of Theater Hopper is a family friendly comic. But sometimes, you just have to throw caution to the wind.
I don’t know if this joke is particularly funny, but an imaginary sexual euphemism was the first thing that came to mind when I was thinking about How To Train Your Dragon.
I actually got a chance to see the movie on Saturday and I’m surprised how much I liked. Or, rather, I’m surprised how much my enjoyment of the film mirrored critical and fan response leading up to the release.
In the few days before Friday and on Friday itself, I was seeing all kinds of effusive praise for the film and thought it was almost going over the top. I was skeptical that if the film was the first moderately good film of the year that people were going overboard heaping praise on it just so they would have something to talk about.
Well, it turns out the praise is justified. The movie is spectacular. Even if the film lacks some of the wit and heart of your average Pixar film, Dreamworks was finally able to put the cap on the annoying pop culture references they’ve been making since the first Shrek movie.
And while the film’s story of an outsider who finds acceptance (and his reticent Daddy issues) won’t win points for originality, you never really notice the tropes as you’re watching the film. The plot moves briskly, explains it’s rules succinctly and never treats the audience like idiots. Kind of a tall order for what is otherwise a kids film.
At the insistence of others, I watched How To Train Your Dragon in 3D and I strongly recommend you do, too. The flying scenes alone are a wonder to behold. Talking with my friend Joe Dunn from Joe Loves Crappy Movies, he said “It does for flying sequences what Iron Man did. It’s almost becoming its own genre.” He couldn’t be more right.
Bottom line, the movie looks fantastic. And I’m not talking about the computer animated bells and whistles. I’m talking about the cinematography, the lighting.
It should look good. Directors Dean DeBlois and Chris Sanders hired Roger Deakins to make sure the film looked top notch in this department. You may not know it, but you’ve seen Deakins work before. He performed the same role for Pixar’s Wall-E.
If I could make one complaint about the film, it would have to be the voice casting. Jay Baruchel can sometimes come off a little too nasal and whiny. Kind of like Woody Allen’s grandson snuck into a Viking village.
Similarly out of place are Gerard Butler and Craig Ferguson as tribal leaders. Their thick, Scottish brogue’s on full display in a Scandinavian village. If I were Nordic, I’d be kind of peeved. What? They couldn’t at least cast Stellan Skarsgård?
I was also very distracted by the inclusion of America Ferrera, Jonah Hill, Christopher Mintz-Plasse and Kristen Wiig as Baruchel’s friends in “dragon training.” Every time I heard their characters speak, I was distracted by trying to figure out where I had heard their voices before.
Hill’s character in particular, Snotlout, threw me because he looked like he was modeled after Jack Black. I kept expecting the character to break into song and over-enunciate his consonants at any minute.
But these are minor distractions, really. For the one or two things the movie gets wrong, it gets four or five things really, really right.
The dragon referenced in the title – a “Black Fury” Baruchel names Toothless – is an excellent reflection of the animators skill of showing without telling. Toothless does not speak, but we know exactly what he’s thinking throughout the entire course of the movie. His facial expressions flow effortlessly between snarling distrust to wide-eyed playfulness. His body language is equal parts dog, cat and jet-black gila monster.
How To Train Your Dragon does an excellent job of accessing that part of your childhood that fantasizes about dragons all day. The part that doodles them on a sheet of paper when you get distracted. It is an immensely enjoyable film and if you don’t leave the theater wanting a dragon of your own by the end of it, then you must be one of those people who likes unicorns. If that’s the case, then I don’t know how to save you.
If you saw How To Train Your Dragon this weekend, feel free to leave your comments below. Let’s talk about it, shall we?
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I saw the title on this trailer and I immediately thought it was a goof. I had a good zinger in mind, too.
“So, apparently the producers of Machine Gun Preacher saw Hobo With A Shotgun and thought they could do one better.”
Y’see. Kinda snazzy.
Then I watched the trailer. Pure pulp shlock like Hobo With A Shotgun this is not…
I have no doubt that this movie will make people who do mission work feel good about themselves. But I am decidedly not the audience for this picture.
I’m also skeptical how much of this “true story” holds water. What are your thoughts? Leave your comments below!
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